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guitarsmashley wrote:You know, I really liked this book. I mean it was well written I liked the little info boxes, I liked amadeus' attitude and having no interest in continuing this series or what's come before it, it was a nice little vignette into what could be an enjoyable book. The art was nothing spectacular but it wasn't anything bad either. It did what many comics can't it served the story and never once did I have to say,"Who is that again? What the hell is going on?" Like I said it was a pretty good comic, but it was picked by Punch so I have to score it badly.

Story - The Incredible Hercules was a book that kind of crept up on me. I was initially buying it just because I quite liked Hercules' 1980s minis by Bob Layton, I wasn't expecting much from it. But slowly but surely it became one of my favourite comics. It was epic, it had humour, it had strong characters. It was a lot of fun, and then they had to go and kill Hercules!

But luckily the book isn't over, and it's up to Herc's sidekick (not his boyfriend, Starlord) Amadeus Cho to continue this tale.

This is pretty much the perfect continuation of Incredible Hercules, in fact it's pretty much the exact same book, but minus one character. And that does make a difference. The book does lose a certains something with the absence of the Lion Of Olympus, perhaps some of the humour, but I feel that's deliberate, we're meant to sense that something's wrong without Hercules. The reader misses him just as much as Amadeus Cho. And while I feel the book can withstand Herc not being around for a while (just as it did during the Origin Of Amadeus Cho arc) that gap needs to be filled soon, and I do sincerely hope that Amadeus is able to use his Hercollider to bring him back.

With Hercules out of the picture, Pak and Van Lente are given the chance to put the focus on Amadeus, and they do a good job, we get a clearer focus on his character, on his personal issues (Delphyne Gorgon, the manipulations of Aphrodite) and also how he has changed from the angry quasi-villain he was back in World War Hulk. Not the least that he's using physical force to fight evil along with his brain.

One of the best things about Incredible Hercules was how Pak and Van Lente were able to meld real world myth with Marvel Comics lore, and this continues to be excellent here. We see the aftermath of Siege in Asgard, Bruce Banner, The Griffin, and others alongside Greek Myth. One interesting aspect is that they've brought back The Pantheon from Peter David's Hulk run in the 90s. It makes for a really rich reading experience. This is set right smack-dab in the Marvel Universe, but it's drawing on wider influences too.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this issue, it works as a strong continuation from the previous book, but is different enough to warrant killing off the central character. It has all the elements that made Incredible Hercules awesome, but with a little different spice. I'm not sure if readers who didn't follow Incredible Hercules would have enjoyed this book as much, Pak and Van Lente use little captions to keep you up to speed, but they were chiefly used for (a very dry) comic effect. If you did read Incredible Hercules, you pretty much have to buy this. And if you didn't, you need to go back and get the trades and report back to me ASAP. Do it!

Art - The art in this issue comes from Reilly Brown, who illustrated what is perhaps Incredible Hercules' finest hour, the 'Thor-Cules Vs Hercu-Thor' storyline, and it's a joy to see him back. His work is cartoony, and really fits the tone of the book, I can't think of a better choice for this comic.

Firstly, the book retains the tone of the Incredible Hercules which to me is a plus...no need to mess with that formula.

Amadeus Cho started off really annoying when he first debuted n Hulk but he really grew on me throughout Hercules. In this issue he gets another solo story away from Hercules along with a new status quo: CEO of the Olympus Corp.

After the initial previews of him taking on the Griffin with a superpowered mace I was a bit wary.....Cho with superpowers seemed like a bad combination but for now I'll give it a shot. Supporting cast is also nice too: Bruce Banner, Hebe, Athena and Delphyne Gorgon are still there and provide nice moments. And now we've got a new villain: some guy from the Pantheon (old Hulk villains) who seems to be portrayed as the antiCho.

Odd numbering aside, I don't see why this wasn't a continued Incredible Hercules series, as that's what it is in all but name and price. It will appeal to the same readers, but whether it will bolster sales for a relaunch or not remains to be seen.

Having seen it described as a "Bwa-ha-ha" book, and now having had a chance to re-read it, I see what was meant--the snarky little captions and goofy sound effect words ("krakabathroom!") do seem to push this in the direction of Keith Giffen-esque funny books like Ambush Bug or JLI, but there's a sort of uninspired smugness without a lot of smarts which is ironic considering the protagonist is Amadeus Cho. In fact, Cho only uses his purple-pink trigonometry once really, and mostly somehow flies around blasting things without much thought either. Who needs math when you've got a magic mace, I guess.

Spicy Dick wrote:So, another review called this a--ugh--Bwa-Ha-Ha book. And conversely to how I'm thinking, he's seemed to mean it was funny. Who actually found it funny, meaning it made you actually laugh? And what line was it?

I didn't find any part of it bwa-ha-ha funny.

Only Chew makes me chuckle on the regular. The first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man, pre-tidal wave was humorous to me as well

Only Chew makes me chuckle on the regular. The first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man, pre-tidal wave was humorous to me as well

I didn't either. Funny comics are tricky to pull off, some of Fred Van Lente's earlier stuff is actually funny (to me), mainly Action Philosophers but also some of his Marvel Zombies. I agree about Chew and early USM. Deadgirl/Dr Strange comes to mind because I just read it. iZombie had a couple funny parts.

This book was like watching someone at a party trying to be funny.

Now that the entire multiverse is their playground, maybe issue #2 will bring the funny, because it wants to be a funny book.